OBJECTIVETo evaluate the efficacy and safety of sodium copper chlorophyllin (trademarked as "Yebaike Tablet which is abbreviated as YBK in treating leukopenia.

METHODSOne hundred and five patients with leukopenia caused by various factors were randomized into 3 groups. The 60 patients in the YBK group took orally YBK Tablets at the dose of 40 mg, three times per day, the 30 patients in the leucogen group were treated with Leucogen Tablets at the dose of 20 mg, three times per day, and the 15 patients in the placebo group were administered with vitamin C tablets 100 mg, three times per day. All the subjects were treated for 1 month. The change of peripheral leucocytes count after treatment and adverse drug reaction that occurred in patients were studied.

RESULTSIn the 60 patients treated with YBK, the treatment proved to be markedly effective in 34 cases, effective in 17 and ineffective in 9, the total effective rate being 85%, which was significantly higher than that in the placebo group (26.7%, P < 0.01) and similar to that in the leucogen group (83.3%, P > 0.05). No adverse reaction was found in the treatment course.

CONCLUSIONYBK can be used in the treatment of leukopenia caused by various factors, satisfactory in efficacy and safe in use.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Ascorbic Acid ; administration & dosage ; Chlorophyllides ; administration & dosage ; adverse effects ; Female ; Humans ; Leukocyte Count ; Leukopenia ; drug therapy ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Tablets ; Thiazoles ; administration & dosage ; Thiazolidines ; Treatment Outcome

Meloxicam concentration in skin was determined following topical administration of meloxicam patches in hairless mouse. Samples were analysized by HPLC coupled with microdialysis sampling technique, in which in vivo recovery of probe was characterized by the retrodialysis method. It was indicated that the in vivo recovery of the probe was 14.0%. The range of steady state concentration of meloxicam in dialysate was 24-50 ng x mL(-1), and that was 170-360 ng x mL(-1) in the hairless mouse skin. Steady state concentration of meloxicam was reached shortly after the application of meloxicam patches, which was maintained during the period of experiment.
Administration, Cutaneous ; Animals ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Cyclooxygenase 2 Inhibitors ; administration & dosage ; pharmacokinetics ; Isoenzymes ; antagonists & inhibitors ; Mice ; Mice, Hairless ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Microdialysis ; Skin ; metabolism ; Skin Absorption ; Thiazines ; administration & dosage ; pharmacokinetics ; Thiazoles ; administration & dosage ; pharmacokinetics

OBJECTIVEWe designed a multi-center, double-blind, randomized, parallel, with metformin controlled clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy and safety of low dose rosiglitazone combined with sulphonylurea therapy in type 2 diabetic patients who were inadequately controlled with sulphonylurea alone.

METHODSPatients were treated with 4 mg rosiglitazone once daily plus sulphonylurea (test group) or 0.5 g metformin twice daily plus sulphonylurea (control group) for 12 weeks. The mean levels of HbA(1c), fasting and postprandial plasma glucose were recorded and compared between the two groups.

RESULTSThe mean levels of HbA(1c) decreased by 1.09% and 0.95% in the test group (n = 102) and control group (n = 96) respectively. Fasting and postprandial plasma glucose levels in the test group decreased by 25.0% and 35.6%, and in the control group, decreased by 17.7% and 23.8% as compared with the baseline (both P < 0.01). No liver damage was found.

CONCLUSIONCombination treatment of rosiglitazone and sulphonylurea can effectively improve glycemic control in type 2 diabetic patients inadequately controlled with sulphonylurea alone.

Adult ; Aged ; Blood Glucose ; analysis ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; drug therapy ; Double-Blind Method ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Humans ; Hypoglycemic Agents ; administration & dosage ; Metformin ; administration & dosage ; Middle Aged ; Sulfonylurea Compounds ; administration & dosage ; Thiazoles ; administration & dosage ; Thiazolidinediones

BACKGROUND: To prevent blood-borne infections and guarantee safe transfusion, we proposed a quality assurance program for donor screening tests, such as hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and anti-hepatitis C virus antibody (anti-HCV), by introducing external proficiency testing for the laboratories that perform donor screening tests. METHODS: The materials for external proficiency testing (PT) were prepared from the HBsAg Standard Panels and anti-HCV Reference Panels provided by the Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA), and the normal Human Serum was provided by the Serum Bank of the Korea National Research Resource Center. The external PT materials were sent to 83 laboratories that performed donor screening tests after evaluating their quality. RESULTS: The results of evaluating the quality of the PT materials were acceptable. All the laboratories receiving the materials answered with a 100% response rate. All the laboratories answered that they obtained positive results for the HBsAg Standard Panel E, H, I and J; however, one laboratory answered in the gray-zone and that lab had negative results for HBsAg Standard Panel C and G. Seventy laboratories (84%) and 42 laboratories (51%) among the total 83 laboratories answered they had positive results for HBsAg Standard Panel B and D, suggesting that many laboratories could not detect a low level of HBsAg. All 83 laboratories answered that they had concordant results for the external PT for anti-HCV. CONCLUSION: Donor screening laboratories can detect low levels of HBsAg and anti-HCV without any errors and the performance of the laboratories that could not detect low levels of HBsAg remains to be improved. Quality assurance program using external PT with materials that contain various genotypes and mutants should be conducted to maintain the quality of donor screening tests.
Blood Donors ; Donor Selection ; Genotype ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens ; Humans ; Korea ; Mass Screening ; Pyridines ; Thiazoles ; United States Food and Drug Administration ; Viruses

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the clinical efficacy of treating knee osteoarthritis (KOA, Bi syndrome of knee) by massage combined Chinese materia medica (CMM) footbath fumigation and washing, and to observe the changes of the Lysholm knee score (LKSS).

METHODSTotally 61 patients with grade I to III KOA were randomly assigned to two groups, the treatment group and the control group. Patients in the treatment group were treated with massage combined CMM footbath fumigation and washing, while those in the control group were treated with oral administration of meloxicam. They were treated for 20 days (times). The LKSS was assessed before treatment, 10 days of treatment, by the end of the treatment, and 1 month after treatment.

RESULTS(1) The therapeutic efficacy in the treatment group was superior to that in the control group (P < 0.05). Thirteen cases were clinically controlled, with 11 markedly effective, 6 effective, and 1 ineffective in the treatment group, while 5 cases were clinically controlled, with 11 markedly effective, 10 effective, and 4 ineffective in the control group. (2) The LKSS: The post-treatment LKSS was higher than that before treatment in the two groups. The LKSS at 10 days (times) of treatment was lower in the treatment group than in the control group, but with no statistical difference (P > 0.05). The LKSS by the end of the treatment was higher in the treatment group than in the control group (P < 0.05). (3) The case number of patients in need of receiving the treatment again within 1-month follow-up and the difference between the LKSS at follow-ups and that by the end of the treatment were lower in the treatment group than in the control group (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONMassage combined CMM footbath fumigation and washing had better clinical efficacy on patients suffering from KOA.

Balneology ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Massage ; Middle Aged ; Osteoarthritis, Knee ; therapy ; Thiazines ; therapeutic use ; Thiazoles ; therapeutic use ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVETo investigate the pharmacokinetics and bioavailability of ziprasidone tablets in Chinese healthy volunteers.

METHODSA randomized crossover study was performed in 20 healthy volunteers, who received a single oral dose (40 mg) of the test or reference preparation of ziprasidone. Blood samples were collected from the subjects at different time points following the drug administration, and the plasma concentration of ziprasidone was determined using high-performance liquid chromatography. The pharmacokinetic parameters were analyzed by DAS software and the relative bioavailability was calculated according to the formula F=AUC(t)/AUC(r)x100%.

RESULTSFor the test and reference preparation, the pharmacokinetics parameter C(max) was 170.7-/+71.3 and 174.4-/+81.6 ng/ml, t(max) 3.73-/+1.87 and 3.69-/+1.84 h, t((1/2)) 5.57-/+1.62 and 5.61-/+1.73 h, AUC(0-t) 1273-/+252.3 and 1296-/+266.9 ng.h.ml(-1), and AUC(0-infinity)1396-/+276.9 and 1407-/+281.5 ng.h.ml(-1), respectively, with the relative bioavailability of (98.3-/+12.6)%. No significant differences were found in the main parameters of the test and reference preparations as analyzed by ANOVA and two- and one-side t-test.

CONCLUSIONThe test and reference preparation of ziprasidone are bioequivalent.

Administration, Oral ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Biological Availability ; Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions ; Health ; Humans ; Piperazines ; administration & dosage ; adverse effects ; pharmacokinetics ; Tablets ; Therapeutic Equivalency ; Thiazoles ; administration & dosage ; adverse effects ; pharmacokinetics ; Time Factors ; Young Adult

Brown adipose tissue is specialized to burn lipids for thermogenesis and energy expenditure. Second-generation antipsychotics (SGA) are the most commonly used drugs for schizophrenia with several advantages over first-line drugs, however, it can cause clinically-significant weight gain. To reveal the involvement of brown adipocytes in SGA-induced weight gain, we compared the effect of clozapine, quetiapine, and ziprasidone, SGA with different propensities to induce weight gain, on the differentiation and the expression of brown fat-specific markers, lipogenic genes and adipokines in a mouse brown preadipocyte cell line. On Oil Red-O staining, the differentiation was inhibited almost completely by clozapine (40 microM) and partially by quetiapine (30 microM). Clozapine significantly down-regulated the brown adipogenesis markers PRDM16, C/EBPbeta, PPARgamma2, UCP-1, PGC-1alpha, and Cidea in dose- and time-dependent manners, whereas quetiapine suppressed PRDM16, PPARgamma2, and UCP-1 much weakly than clozapine. Clozapine also significantly inhibited the mRNA expressions of lipogenic genes ACC, SCD1, GLUT4, aP2, and CD36 as well as adipokines such as resistin, leptin, and adiponectin. In contrast, quetiapine suppressed only resistin and leptin but not those of lipogenic genes and adiponectin. Ziprasidone (10 microM) did not alter the differentiation as well as the gene expression patterns. Our results suggest for the first time that the inhibition of brown adipogenesis may be a possible mechanism to explain weight gain induced by clozapine and quetiapine.
Adipocytes, Brown/drug effects ; Adipogenesis/drug effects ; Adipokines/metabolism ; Animals ; *Antipsychotic Agents/administration & dosage/adverse effects ; Cell Differentiation/drug effects ; Cell Line ; Cell Survival/drug effects ; *Clozapine/administration & dosage/adverse effects ; *Dibenzothiazepines/administration & dosage/adverse effects ; Gene Expression Regulation/drug effects ; Humans ; Mice ; *Piperazines/administration & dosage/adverse effects ; Schizophrenia/drug therapy ; *Thiazoles/administration & dosage/adverse effects ; Weight Gain/*drug effects

OBJECTIVENeuroblastoma (NB) is a pediatric solid tumor derived from neural crest precursor cells. It is resistant to current therapeutic protocols, including high dose chemotherapy. The mechanisms of chemoresistance are very complex. The recent studies have shown that the levels of tyrosine kinase receptor B (TrkB) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) are high in NB tumors with poor prognosis. The aim of this research was to explore the effects of TrkB and BDNF levels on the chemotherapeutic sensitivity in neuroblastoma by using the NB cell line SH-SY5Y in vitro.

METHODSThe expression of TrkB protein was detected with Western-blot after the treatment with different concentrations of all trans-retinoic acid (ATRA). Cell survival rate was analyzed using MTT. Apoptosis was detected using flow cytometry (FCM) and a transmission electron microscope (TEM).

RESULTS(1) The expression of TrkB protein was undetectable in SY5Y. It was positive, however, after the treatment with ATRA (1, 10, 100 nmol/L) for five days. The level of TrkB protein was increased with adding of ATRA at different concentrations. (2) The difference of the survival and apoptotic rate between the BDNF (10 ng/ml) + ATRA (10 nmol/L) + cisplatin (CP, 5 microg/ml) group (survival rate 46.51% +/- 13.44%, apoptosis rate 11.79% +/- 1.53%) and the CP alone group (survival rate 38.51% +/- 9.66%, apoptosis rate 14.95% +/- 2.06%) was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). The survival rate of the BDNF (50 ng/ml and 100 ng/ml) + ATRA (10 nmol/L) + CP (5 microg/ml) group (66.85% +/- 18.39%, 94.30% +/- 10.71%) was greatly higher than CP alone group (P < 0.05, P < 0.01), whereas the apoptotic rate (9.36% +/- 1.03%, 5.20% +/- 1.99%) was significantly lower than that of the CP alone group (P < 0.01, P < 0.01). The survival rates of BDNF (100 ng/ml) + ATRA (10 nmol/L) + CP (5 microg/ml) group were higher than those of BDNF (50 ng/ml) + ATRA (10 nmol/L) + CP (5 microg/ml) group (P < 0.01), whereas the apoptotic rates were lower than those of BDNF (50 ng/ml) + ATRA (10 nmol/L) + CP (5 microg/ml) group (P < 0.05). There were no significant difference between the ATRA (1 nmol/L) + BDNF (50 ng/ml) + CP group (survival rate 45.33% +/- 11.83%, apoptosis rate 12.48% +/- 2.48%) and the CP alone group in the survival and apoptotic rates (P > 0.05). The survival rates of the ATRA (10 nmol/L, 100 nmol/L) + BDNF (50 ng/ml) + CP (61.62% +/- 18.53%, 105.02% +/- 5.55%) group were greatly higher than those of the CP alone group (P < 0.05, P < 0.01), whereas the apoptotic rate (9.36% +/- 1.03%, 5.05% +/- 1.88%) was significantly lower than that of the CDDP alone group (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). The survival rates of the ATRA (100 nmol/L) + BDNF (50 ng/ml) + CP group were higher than those of the ATRA (10 nmol/L) + BDNF (50 ng/ml) + CP group (P < 0.01), whereas the apoptotic rates were lower than the ATRA (10 nmol/L) + BDNF (50 ng/ml) + CP group (P < 0.01). (3) Some of the cells showed apoptotic changes in the CP alone group, whereas the intranuclear chromoplasma was well-distributed, the nuclear membrane was clear, and mitochondria, ribosome and solvent were present in the ATRA (10 nmol/L) + BDNF (50 ng/ml) + CP group.

CONCLUSIONSThe sensitivity of SY5Y to CP was affected by TrkB and BDNF. The higher the level of TrkB and BDNF was, the lower the sensitivity of SY5Y to CP.

Antineoplastic Agents ; administration & dosage ; pharmacology ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Blotting, Western ; Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor ; administration & dosage ; pharmacology ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Survival ; drug effects ; Cisplatin ; administration & dosage ; pharmacology ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm ; drug effects ; Flow Cytometry ; Humans ; Microscopy, Electron, Transmission ; Neuroblastoma ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; pathology ; ultrastructure ; Receptor, trkB ; metabolism ; Tetrazolium Salts ; chemistry ; Thiazoles ; chemistry ; Tretinoin ; administration & dosage ; pharmacology

Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols ; administration & dosage ; Child ; Dasatinib ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Molecular Targeted Therapy ; Neoplasm, Residual ; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma ; drug therapy ; Protein Kinase Inhibitors ; administration & dosage ; Protein-Tyrosine Kinases ; antagonists & inhibitors ; Pyrimidines ; administration & dosage ; adverse effects ; Thiazoles ; administration & dosage ; adverse effects

PURPOSE: Osteoarthritic pain is largely considered to be inflammatory pain. Sensory nerve fibers innervating the knee have been shown to be significantly damaged in rat models of knee osteoarthritis (OA) in which the subchondral bone junction is destroyed, and this induces neuropathic pain (NP). Pregabalin was developed as a pain killer for NP; however, there are no reports on pregabalin use in OA patients. The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of pregabalin for pain in OA patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eighty-nine knee OA patients were evaluated in this randomized prospective study. Patients were divided into meloxicam, pregabalin, and meloxicam+pregabalin groups. Pain scores were evaluated before and 4 weeks after drug application using a visual analogue scale (VAS), and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC). Pain scales among groups were compared using a Kruskal-Wallis test. RESULTS: Before drug application, there was no significant difference in VAS and WOMAC scores among the three groups (p>0.05). Significant pain relief was seen in the meloxicam+pregabalin group in VAS at 1, 2, and 4 weeks, and WOMAC score at 4 weeks, compared with the other groups (p<0.05). No significant pain relief was seen in the meloxicam only group in VAS during 4 weeks and WOMAC score at 4 weeks compared with the pregabalin only group (p>0.05). CONCLUSION: Meloxicam+pregabalin was effective for pain in OA patients. This finding suggests that OA pain is a combination of inflammatory and NP.
Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Drug Therapy, Combination/adverse effects ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Osteoarthritis, Knee/*drug therapy ; Pain Measurement ; Thiazines/administration & dosage/adverse effects/*therapeutic use ; Thiazoles/administration & dosage/adverse effects/*therapeutic use ; gamma-Aminobutyric Acid/administration & dosage/adverse effects/*analogs & derivatives/therapeutic use